The New Testament: An Orthodox Perspective (New Testament) [Paperback]

Theodore G. Stylianopoulos (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2004

This volume deals with the fundamental issues, presuppositions, and contexts which largely determine how the Bible is read and interpreted. The discussion centers aroubnd topics which pertain to Scripture as a whole - its nature and authority, its relationship to tradition, the patristic and modern approaches to Scripture, and the burning issue of interpretation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"stimulating and informative... of use not only to students but to anyone interested in contemporary Orthodox reflections on hermeneutical questions." --Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 61, 1999

About the Author

Theodore G. Stylianopoulos is Professor of New Testament at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Brookline, Massachusetts. He is the author of and editor of several books, including The Good News of Christ (1991). He is a regular columnist for Beliefnet.

Product Details

• Paperback: 271 pages
• Publisher: Holy Cross Orthodox Press (October 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885652135
• ISBN-13: 978-1885652133
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #543,127 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best Orthodox Book On Scripture, So Far..., March 15, 2010

By 

Buck Dempsey (South Central WI United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The New Testament: An Orthodox Perspective (New Testament) (Paperback)

As the title says this is the best book on Orthodox views of the New Testament that I have found. It does not deal much with the Old Testament, but the hermeneutical principals that are explained can be used for interpreting the OT. The author admits to having been, at least partially, educated in Protestant graduate schools and he displays a wide knowledge of the issues that they deal with. This also tends to make him somewhat more ecumenically inclined than I prefer. A Protestant or even Roman Catholic (as he also ierenically treats them) would find nothing overtly offensive in this book.
The author seems more "at home" dealing with liberal biblical criticism and footnotes helpful books from a variety of hermeneutical "flavors" such as feminist and liberation schools of thought. However, he fails to give any helpful books from the Protestant fundamentalist school and instead footnotes books that critique it instead. He also called me, and most Church Fathers by the way, an obscurantist three times in the book for actually affirming a belief in a literal 6-day creation.

Chapter 1 deals with the "Nature of Holy Scripture" and does so well. Chapter 2 is "The Authority and Uses of Holy Scripture." Chapter 3 is on Hermeneutics and the far to brief, in my opinion, forth chapter covers the Church Fathers on Scripture in 14 pages. Chapter 5 is on Modern Biblical Scholarship and critiques the post-Enlightenment "higher-critical" movements in academia. Chapters 6 & 7 deal with critiques of modern Orthodox exegetes and the authors own personal model for hermeneutics. 2 short appendices are essays from St. John of Damascus & St. Symeon New Theologian excepted from a couple of Roman Catholic works translating them. Stylianopoulos does point out a deficiency in the RC translation of St. Symeon by C. J. deCatanzaro on p. 219.
Overall it is the best Orthodox hereneutical book that I have found so far and I would recomend it to Orthodox, RC and Protestants. I am still waiting for an excellent (read Traditional) Orthodox book dealing with the OT and especially the LXX vs. MT controversy.